Record 18 million passengers flew in and out of Calgary airport in 2019

The Calgary Airport Authority says a record-setting 18 million passengers moved through YYC in 2019.

That's 600,000 more passengers than in 2018, an increase of 3.5 per cent, a release on Friday said.

The airport authority notes it achieved those results despite the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max last March.

The grounding is estimated to have resulted in 2,300 fewer flights, and 300,000 fewer seats from or through YYC.

"According to InterVistas, YYC was the fourth most impacted airport in North America and eighth most impacted in the world by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max in terms of flights," the release said.

The increased traffic in 2019 was due in part toWestJet's new Dreamliner routes to London Gatwick, Paris and Dublin, the airport authority said.

Cargo traffic was also up, growing to 4,305 landings a 6.6 per cent increase from 2018.

The authority says the airport adds $8 billion annually to the regional GDP and supports about 50,000 direct and indirect jobs.